What William T. Grant Foundation does

The William T. Grant Foundation is a private nonprofit philanthropic foundation established in 1936 and headquartered at 60 E. 42nd Street, New York. Its mission is to support high-quality research in the social sciences focused on improving the lives of young people in the United States ages 5-25, organized around two focus areas: reducing inequality in youth outcomes (along dimensions of race, ethnicity, economic standing, sexual or gender minority status, language minority status, or immigrant origins) and improving the use of research evidence in decisions that affect youth-serving systems.

The foundation operates seven distinct grant programs: Research Grants on Reducing Inequality, Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence, the William T. Grant Scholars Program (five-year career development awards for early-career researchers), the Institutional Challenge Grant (supporting university-based research-practice partnerships), Mentoring Grants, Youth Service Improvement Grants and Youth Service Capacity-Building Grants (both for NYC nonprofits serving youth ages 5-25), and Rapid Response Research Grants (collaborations between research and policy partners). Award sizes range from $25,000 (Officers' Research Grants) to $600,000 (Major Research Grants) over 1-3 years. Complementary platforms include the Research-Practice Partnerships Resource Hub microsite and the Optimal Design with Empirical Information (OD+) research methods tool. Grant applications and reporting are managed through the SmartSimple online portal.

The foundation employs 11-50 staff led by President Adam Gamoran (announced for retirement in 2027) and Vice President of Finance and Administration Rosanna Aybar. Its library catalogs 1,581 awarded grants since 2004, and a January 2026 funding opportunities article references a programmatic funding pool of over $68 million. Revenue is not publicly disclosed. The foundation markets through its website, email newsletter, The Digest quarterly publication, blog, and webinars, with no commercial product or service distribution; it does not sell products and operates as an endowment-backed grantmaking institution.

Name

William T. Grant Foundation

Legal name

William T. Grant Foundation

Website

https://wtgrantfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1936

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The William T. Grant Foundation is a private nonprofit philanthropic foundation, founded in 1936 in New York, that awards grants to academic researchers, universities, and NYC nonprofits to fund social-science research on reducing inequality in U.S. youth outcomes and improving use of research evidence.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The William T. Grant Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation that provides grant funding to support social science research. It funds academic researchers, university-based research institutes, and New York City youth-serving nonprofits through programs focused on reducing inequality in youth outcomes (ages 5-25) and improving the use of research evidence in policy and practice decisions. Grant award amounts range from $25,000 to $600,000 depending on the program.

Product overview

The William T. Grant Foundation is a philanthropy organization offering grant programs for research rather than a technology product company. Their portfolio consists of seven distinct grant programs: Research Grants on Reducing Inequality, Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence, William T. Grant Scholars Program, Institutional Challenge Grant, Youth Service Improvement Grants, Youth Service Capacity-Building Grants, and Rapid Response Research Grants. These programs support field-initiated research, career development for early-career faculty, institutional change at universities, and projects to strengthen youth service nonprofits in New York City. The Foundation also operates complementary resource platforms including the Research-Practice Partnerships Resource Hub and provides research tools such as Optimal Design with Empirical Information (OD+).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Research Grants on Reducing Inequality Research grants funding studies that build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States. Major Research Grants range from $100,000 to $600,000 over 2-3 years.
• Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence Research grants funding studies that examine ways to improve the use of research evidence by policymakers, agency leaders, organizational managers, and other decision-makers that shape youth-serving systems in the United States.
• William T. Grant Scholars Program Career development awards supporting promising early-career researchers with five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers' expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas.
• Institutional Challenge Grant Grants supporting university-based research institutes, schools, and centers in building sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations to reduce inequality in youth outcomes.
• Youth Service Improvement Grants Grants helping nonprofit organizations in New York City improve the quality of existing youth services by addressing challenges or remedying problems at the point of service where staff and youth interact.
• Youth Service Capacity-Building Grants Grants strengthening the organizational infrastructure of small nonprofit organizations in the five boroughs of New York City that provide direct services to young people ages 5 to 25.
• Mentoring Grants Grants supporting mentoring and career development, which has been a cornerstone of the Foundation's approach to grantmaking for over four decades.
• Rapid Response Research Grants Rapid response grants addressing pressing issues facing young people in the United States through collaborations between research and policy partners.
• Research-Practice Partnerships Resource Hub A microsite providing guiding tips, work samples, and resources from successful research-practice partnerships to help researchers form, grow, or support partnerships.
• Optimal Design with Empirical Information (OD+) A tool developed to enhance the work of researchers engaged in common enterprises, supporting research methods development.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Spencer Foundation: Private foundation funding education research through research grants and a Scholars program. Directly comparable to William T. Grant Foundation in mission, structure, and grant program design.
• Kauffman Foundation: Foundation funding research on education, youth, and economic mobility with research grant and scholar programs. Comparable in mission focus on inequality and use of evidence, though with broader economic-mobility framing.
• Russell Sage Foundation: Foundation supporting social science research in behavioral, economic, and sociological areas via research grants, scholar programs, and visiting scholar fellowships. Closely aligned with WT Grant's social-science research grantmaking model.
• Annie E. Casey Foundation: Private foundation dedicated to improving outcomes for children and youth, with significant grantmaking for research and evidence-based programs. Direct peer in the youth-outcomes and inequality space.
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Foundation supporting scientific research including social science via research grants and scholars programs. Comparable grantmaking structure and academic audience to WT Grant Foundation.

Broad incumbents

• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: Larger private foundation with significant education and research-evidence grantmaking. Overlaps with WT Grant's focus on improving use of research evidence and youth outcomes, but operates at materially greater scale across multiple program areas.
• MacArthur Foundation: Large private foundation funding research and field-building across multiple areas including youth development. Overlaps with WT Grant in supporting social science research and reducing inequality, but with much broader scope and budget.
• Carnegie Corporation of New York: Major national foundation with substantial education and youth-focused grantmaking. Comparable as a large incumbent operating in similar youth and education domains with overlapping research-grant programs.

Emerging players

• Heising-Simons Foundation: Family foundation with growing portfolio in education and youth research. Emerging peer that increasingly overlaps with WT Grant's youth-outcomes and use-of-evidence programming.

Others

• American Educational Research Association: Professional society that publishes research, convenes scholars, and shapes education research standards. Adjacent ecosystem participant overlapping with WT Grant's grantee community of education researchers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about William T. Grant Foundation